Airdrieonians F.C.


Airdrieonians Football Club are a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club following the liquidation of the original Airdrieonians club, formed in 1878. The club's official name was changed in 2013 with the approval of the Scottish Football Association to the traditional name of Airdrieonians. As with the previous club, this is often colloquially shortened to simply "Airdrie".
The club have won two trophies in their short history – the Scottish Second Division in 2003–04 and the Challenge Cup in 2008–09. Once described as "the luckiest team in the Scottish League", the club have benefited in league division placements due to other club's misfortunes on three occasions.

History

Formation as Airdrie United

The club was formed in 2002 as Airdrie United, following the bankruptcy of the original Airdrieonians.
Airdrieonians had finished runners-up in the Scottish First Division in the 2001–02 season but went out of business with debts approaching £3 million. The collapse of "The Diamonds", as they were known due to their distinctive kits, created a vacancy in the Scottish Football League. Accountant and Airdrieonians fan Jim Ballantyne attempted, with the help of others, to gain entry with a club called "Airdrie United" who were essentially to be a reincarnation of Airdrieonians. Their application however was rejected as the then English Northern Premier League side Gretna were preferred by league members over the new Airdrie United.
Airdrie United then went on to complete a buy-out of the ailing Second Division side Clydebank and with SFL approval the club was relocated to Airdrie, the strips were transformed to resemble that of Airdrieonians, and the name was changed to Airdrie United. While this means that the club is therefore officially a legal continuation of Clydebank, it is almost universally accepted as a reincarnation of Airdrieonians, with Clydebank having been reformed by supporters' groups and entering into the West Region Junior League.

Early years – league title & new manager (2002–2006)

Managed by Sandy Stewart, Airdrie United's first match took place at New Broomfield against Forfar Athletic in August 2002, with captain Stephen Docherty scoring the only goal of the game with Airdrie United winning 1–0. Their debut season saw the club only narrowly fail to achieve promotion by one point due to a late injury-time goal from Brechin City which saw them promoted instead. The club reached the second round of the Challenge Cup, the third round of the Scottish Cup and the third round of the Scottish League Cup having beaten Premier League side Kilmarnock in the second round.
During the rest of Stewart's tenure the club reached the final of the Challenge Cup in 2003, and won the Second Division title in 2003–04 season. Having started poorly Airdrie went on a run that saw them unbeaten in the last 18 games of that season, including the final game of the league campaign which saw a crowd of over 5,700 at New Broomfield to watch Airdrie defeat Morton 2–0 and lift the League Championship trophy, the club having been confirmed champions the previous week following their 1–0 victory away to Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park.
In November 2006, Stewart was sacked and replaced by former Airdrieonians player and Airdrie United coach Kenny Black, his first management post.

Mixed fortunes – play-offs, cup win & club changes (2006–2013)

Under Kenny Black the club suffered four successive play-off defeats:
The club won the Challenge Cup in 2008, defeating Ross County 3–2 on penalties after a 2–2 draw, and after this success manager Kenny Black signed a long term contract.
After big financial cutbacks saw all players released in May 2010, it was announced the club would be operating on a part-time basis. In June manager Kenny Black was relieved of his duties, with Jimmy Boyle appointed interim manager. Boyle was appointed manager on a permanent basis in September 2010, with the contract running until the end of season 2011–2012, and extended for 2 years from 2012. The club's decision to focus on developing youth was vindicated in January 2011, as Celtic signed teenager Tony Watt for a sum of £80,000 plus add-ons.
The first league game between Airdrie United and local rivals Albion Rovers took place at New Broomfield on 10 September 2011, with Airdrie winning 4–0. After another play-off defeat by 6–2 on aggregate to Dumbarton in the promotion play-off final at the end of 2011–12 season Airdrie were lucky again as the liquidation of the company that operated Scottish Premier League side Rangers and the decision by Scottish Football League clubs that Rangers should play in the Scottish Third Division, meant that an additional team from each tier of Scottish football was promoted for the 2012–13 season. As Airdrie were runners up in the previous season's Second Division promotion play-offs, they were promoted to the Scottish First Division. A season in the First Division came to an end in May 2013, with the club finishing bottom of the league and relegated to Division Two.

Airdrieonians name returns (2013–2015)

In June 2013, the club officially changed its name from Airdrie United Football Club to Airdrieonians Football Club. The name change revived the name of the club it was formed to replace in 2002, following the liquidation of the original Airdrieonians. The Airdrieonians all red club crest was also revived, with an alternate black and red version used for the away kits.
With a poor start to 2013–14 season and the club sitting bottom of the table, manager Jimmy Boyle was relieved of his position in October 2013 and replaced by Gary Bollan. His contract was extended until May 2016 and the club finished 2014–15 season in 5th position.

New ownership at the club (2015–2018)

In June 2015 Jim Ballantyne sold control of the club to Tom Wotherspoon, a Lanarkshire businessman and owner of . Wotherspoon became Chairman and Ballantyne Vice-Chairman.
The club made numerous additions to the first team squad during July and appointed former Scottish Sun newspaper Head of Sport Iain King as Chief Executive. At a meeting with fans Wotherspoon outlined his long term plans for the club including a commitment to youth and the return to full-time football should the club gain promotion to the SPFL Championship. In September 2015 the club appointed Eddie Wolecki Black from Edusport Academy as the new Youth Academy Director of Coaching. Manager Gary Bollan departed the club in December 2015, with Wolecki Black taking charge of the side a day later beginning a -year deal.
Chairman Tom Wotherspoon announced to the media in January 2016 that the club would be returning to full-time football in the summer of 2016 and would be using the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell as a training base until at least mid-2019.
In March 2016, Airdrieonians manager Eddie Wolecki Black suffered a stroke during a match against Scottish League One opponents Cowdenbeath. In order to allow Wolecki Black time to recover from his illness, Danny Lennon was appointed as acting head coach of the club until the end of the 2015–16 season, with Kevin McBride then appointed to this role during the close season. During October 2016, former Raith Rovers and Ayr Utd manager Gordon Dalziel was appointed as a club advisor on footballing matters. McBride departed the club on 30 October 2016 and the following day, Dalziel was subsequently appointed Director of football, with Mark Wilson appointed as Head coach. At the same time, the club announced that Eddie Wolecki Black would not be returning to the club, with the former coach featured in the press during November 2016 saying he was suing the club for loss of income.
In December 2016 the Airdrieonians Supporters Trust became the first fans group in the world to their team's home kit, with the strip paying tribute to Airdrie fan .
Despite retaining his majority shareholding Tom Wotherspoon resigned as chairman and director of Airdrieonians on 5 June 2017, with former chairman Jim Ballantyne taking Wotherspoon's place as chairman.

Takeover (2018)

In January 2018, it was announced that a consortium of various businessmen had taken control of Tom Wotherspoon's controlling shares, bringing to an end a tumultuous period for the club. The majority of the previous board was replaced, including Jim Ballantyne, and subsequently Director of Football Gordon Dalziel departed. With Excelsior Stadium representation on the new board the club also indicated that they would be abandoning Ravenscraig Sports Complex and returning to training at the stadium.

Stadium

Airdrie play their home fixtures at Excelsior Stadium, also unofficially known as New Broomfield, and for sponsorship reasons as the Penny Cars stadium.
The ground was built when now defunct Airdrieonians' previous home, Broomfield Park, was sold to supermarket chain Safeway, who were given permission to build a new store on the site. This transaction has been cited as being the cause of the financial ruination of the club, as their old ground was demolished several years before they acquired planning permission for the new stadium. In the intervening years the club ground-shared Broadwood Stadium, in Cumbernauld, the home of Clyde.
The ground is owned by Broomfield Stadium Ltd, previously Excelsior Stadium Ltd, who rent the stadium to Airdrie, with the stadium owners sitting on the Board of the club. It has an all-seated capacity of and at the end of the 2009–10 season, a new 3G artificial surface was installed.
In 2003 a ground share was proposed with Falkirk as their ground did not meet SPL requirements; this was later refused as Falkirk could not prove the SPL fixtures would have priority. Queen of the South played their Uefa Cup tie in 2008 at the stadium, as did Motherwell in 2009. Queen's Park utilised the stadium for their "home" games from December 2013 until May 2014, due to the redevelopment of Hampden Park for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Colours and crest

Colours

Airdrie United inherited Airdrieonians' distinctive playing colours of a white shirt with a red diamond. The design was the basis of Airdrieonians' nickname, The Diamonds, which has also been adopted by Airdrie.

Crest

When Airdrie United were formed, they used a blue double-headed eagle device on a white shield for their badge, with a red scroll below the shield that read "Airdrie United F.C.", amended to bearing "Airdrie F.C." when the club rebranded in 2012. The eagle recalled the Airdrie town arms.
When the club inherited the Airdrieonians name in 2013, they also restored the badge worn by their predecessors: the original AFC bore this emblem from 1974 until their demise in 2002, excepting the 2000–01 season. This badge featured a cockerel sitting atop a shield containing two lions passant and the club's initials. The club were informed by the Lord Lyon King of Arms in March 2015 that as their badge features a shield, it constitutes a heraldic device, and heraldic devices are not permitted to carry lettering. On 19 June 2015, Airdrieonians unveiled a new crest, removing the shield and instead using a chevron–representing the "Airdrie Diamond"–to separate the scroll from the remainder of the badge.

Current squad

Club officials

Managers

Honours

Official club awards

Player of the Year

SeasonSenior Player of the YearYoung Player of the Year
2019–20Callum FordyceLeon McCann
2018–19David HuttonJosh Edwards
2017–18Scott StewartDean Cairns
2016–17Andy RyanScott Stewart
2015–16David CoxNicky Cadden
2014–15Paddy BoyleLuca Gasparotto
2013–14Jim ListerLiam Watt
2012–13John BoyleChris O'Neil
2011–12Ryan DonnellyNathan Blockley
2010–11Ryan McCordJamie Bain
2009–10No AwardNo Award
2008–09Stephen RobertsonBobby Donnelly
2007–08Allan RussellKevin Watt
2006–07Neil McGowanStephen McKenna
2005–06Bryan PruntySteven McDougall
2004–05Marvyn WilsonStephen McKenna
2003–04David DunnWillie McLaren
2002–03Jérôme VareilleStephen McKeown

Hall of Fame

A Hall of Fame was established by the new club in 2002 to honour noted players of the previous entity, with more entrants added each year.